


Biohazard

by vilnolin



Series: Tales of the Winchester Clan [3]
Category: Dark Angel, Resident Evil - All Media Types, Supernatural
Genre: Crossover, F/M, JARtHtG
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-06-03
Updated: 2009-06-03
Packaged: 2017-11-28 23:49:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/680267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vilnolin/pseuds/vilnolin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“But! Dude! Zombies!”*<br/>*Not your typical Zombie fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Biohazard

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: confusion, craziness, gore, batman!moves, au, retroactive continuity and lots of other insane stuff. ~~but no zombies~~. i lied about the zombies.  
>  Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or Dark Angel, both belong to their respective owners. (And Capcom owns Resident Evil/Biohazard).All original characters belong to me, all rights reserved and all lefts reversed.  
> reformat/edit: 22.7.14

**CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA**  
 **NOT TOO DISTANT FUTURE**  
  
            “I got a case.” Dean glanced up from the remains of his breakfast to give his clone a doubtful look. “Oh, come on. You haven’t even heard it yet.”  
            “Give it a chance, Dean.” Sam called from the couch.   
            Dean seriously considered sacrificing some hash brown to the ‘Annoy Sammy’ cause…but, upon further thought, hunger won out. “Ok, Alec, let’s hear it.”  
            Alec took a moment to roll  _his_  eyes before handing over a manila folder. Dean raised his eyebrows. Alec gave another little impatient shove with the folder. Dean repeated the eyebrow thing, just in case he missed it the first time. “Damnit,  _Dad_ , take the fucking folder.”   
            After Sam called another resigned ‘Dean…’, Dean lazily reached for the folder, flipping it open, and scoffing. “You are officially disowned as my clone. This is  _meticulous_.”   
            “Blame Manticore.” The tone was his usual joking one, if a little tense. However, when Dean glanced up at Alec’s yellow-green eyes, there was a surprising lack of humor there.  
            “Nah,” he said, shifting his eyes back to the first page of notes, “I blame Sam. He’s a  _good_ influence.” Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Alec’s lips quirk in a small smile, and counted it a win. His youngest brother had been in a weird and twitchy mood; answers were not forthcoming from either said clone or (as Dean privately thought, but loved to make public knowledge) his better half, Keegan. To be honest, Dean thought he was handling the whole  _my-younger-clone-is-mated-to-my-sister_  thing very well. Sam thought he was being an overly obnoxious older brother, but Sam was a prissy bitch half the time, so it didn’t really matter what he thought.  
            “I think this might be something, though, Dean. I mean, these people, all of them and we’re talking a fair number over the years, just vanish. Gone.” Alec said, pacing by the chair.  
            Dean nodded, mostly to make Alec think he was listening while he was actually focusing on the papers in front of him. Starting pre-Pulse (he was going to have to have a talk with Alec about where the fuck he was  _finding_  this shit), it had been only two a year that Alec had flagged over a period of fifteen years. The police never had any reason to link these particular instances (and Dean wasn’t quite sure Alec had any  _either_ ) Then, in the early ‘00s, it was quiet. ’09 and the Pulse hit, and there was an upsurge of twenty disappearances ( _again, with so many people getting lost…_ ) but then it immediately dropped back to the two a year until this year. “Ok… a lot of unrelated disappearances…so what?”   
            Alec gave him a look of long suffering. “If you looked past the first page. All of those people that went missing? They all worked in one city, strange since they were from all parts of Pennsylvania; one of them even had a home address in New York.”   
            Ok, so he was starting to see  _some_  pattern. “And cities make a lot of people disappear, Alec.”  
            “Local authorities lost contact with Raccoon City three hours ago. The last communication screamed something about being attacked by creatures that wouldn’t die.” A smile spread across his face as he realized he had just won.  
            Dean wasn’t happy the kid realized this, but, hey, there was in all likelihood an actual case in this Raccoon City. “You might be on to something, Pretty Boy. Sam, what do you think?” The annoyed expression slid from his face as he actually  _looked_  at Sam’s expression, which was worried. “Sam?”  
            Sam, however, was looking at their little brother. “Alec, do you know why Raccoon City would be flagged in Manticore’s files?” Dean’s eyes flew back to his clone, who was wearing an expression of shock and surprise.  
            Alec bit his lip. “Seriously? And they don’t have a reason for it?” Sam shook his head. “I don’t know, man. Remember, I was on a Need-to-Know basis. Even now, if they don’t tell you right there, we’re gonna have to figure it out on our own.”  
            Sam made an aggravated noise. “I knew you were going to say that.” He looked up at Dean. “That gives us two solid reasons to go check it out. Possible case, and possible Manticore intel. Do something for the Freak Nation, for once.” He said, glancing in Alec’s direction.  It was hard for Dean, looking at his clone to see anything but an annoyingly prettier (and blonde) version of himself. But Alec had been Second in Command at Terminal City, the one free place for transgenics and transhumans. He had helped with negotiations, even had planned on running for office; and then he had met his Original, his brothers, his Family.  
            Yeah, he could bend a little for the guy, especially when he was already being torn in two. He nodded to Sam, who stood, and went to go get Keegan. Dean stood, handing the file back to Alec. “Ok, then lets saddle up.”  


***

  
  
            “You would think they’d have road blocks or something…” Sam muttered, leaning a little out of the window, peering at the abandoned looking city looming in front of them.  
            Dean cast him one more nervous glance before reaching out and yanking him back down by his jacket. “Sit down.”  
            “Wow, Dean. Jumpy?” Dean glared at Keegan in the rearview mirror, but she looked unabashed. “Do we need to switch you back to decaf?”  
            “Oh gods, no!” Well, from Dean’s thoughts to apparently Alec’s vocal chords. “Cause, you know he switches our coffees when you do that, and I’m the only one who gets hurt.” The added pout was enough to earn amused chuckles from everyone…but Dean still couldn’t quite shake the feeling that something…something was  _very_  wrong. Alec and Keegan were continuing their decaf debates, with Sam refereeing as usual, and Dean took the time to look around, get a good bead on their surroundings.  
            There was a flash of movement from the left hand side of the road, down an alley. Dean slammed on the brakes, momentum throwing everyone forward.   
            “What the fuck?” Sam yelled, cradling his head; he had hit the dashboard.   
            Dean gave him a cursory glance (it really was just a bump), and went back to checking his gun. “Saw something go down that alley.” He eyed the clip before slamming it into the gun. “This place is a fucking ghost town…if there’s something moving, I’m following it.” He gave them a long look before unbuckling his seat belt and shoving open the door.  
            It took all of five seconds for Sam to call out, “Dean, wait!” Dean paused, smiling to himself. A moment later, Sam brushed his shoulder on his right, Alec just behind him. Keegan brought up the rear, walking backwards, gun held in a two handed grip, ready for action. “This thing took out communications to an entire  _city_.”  
            “So did Croatoan.” Dean shot back.   
            “Does anyone else think the air smells kinda funny?” Alec asked, nose angled up. He made a face. “I coulda sworn I smelt it before, can’t put my finger on it though…”  
            Predictably, Sam tilted his head back, sniffing with his mouth slightly open. “I get…death, lots of death…and this sick smell, like rotting meat…”  
            Of course, now that Sam mentioned it, Dean  _had_  to smell it now, and it made him a little nauseous. He looked over at Alec. “So where would you have possibly picked up  _this_ lovely aroma?” Alec shrugged, but the movement was nearly as carefree as it usually was. Alec was nervous. And Dean kinda had to admit, he was too. But he took point anyway, with Alec to his left, and Sam to his right. Keegan kept her back against Alec’s, still watching their six. Walking down the alley, eyes sweeping back and forth, the smallest sound drawing a weapon. The most disturbing thing was the  _lack_  of small sounds; he hadn’t even seen any rats…  
            A bottle rolled out in front of him, and he raised one hand. Silently, all four came to a complete stop. The bottle clinked to a halt against Dean’s booted foot. Dean could feel Alec, Sam and Keegan press closer to him; he could feel their breathing…  
            There was a groan, and the sound of someone falling over. Dean hesitated but then came a high pitched scream. They all moved forward as one, still silently, and the scream sounded again. Rounding the corner, Dean nearly choked. There was a person (or what used to be a person), and it was a boiling, rolling mass of fur and these strange tentacles; tails, they were tails. The person was covered with rats, being eaten alive  _and they were still screaming_.  
            “Oh god.” Sam looked vaguely nauseous. “Oh  _god_.” Alec pushed his way in front of Dean, leveling his gun at the vague shape of the figure’s head, and fired. The body jerked once and slumped over, causing some of the rats to squeak in alarm.   
            Dean stared open mouthed at his clone. “Alec! What the fuck was that!”  
            The man ( _boy_ ) who looked back at Dean wasn’t Alec Winchester, and Dean was once again chilled by the soldier X5R-494. “Mercy. Would you rather have him suffer?”  
            “Alec.” It was all Keegan needed to say, and then there  _he_  was again, looking too young, and much paler than before.  
            “Hey, guess we know where the rats went.” Dean muttered, glancing back at the still writhing pile of rats, wrinkling his nose a bit.   
            “It doesn’t answer any of our questions, though.” Sam said, obviously trying to block out the entire event. “And raises more questions like why we’re suddenly dealing with carnivorous attack rats...unless you think  _they_  could be what's been taking people?”  
            “No. There were too few taken to start…and far too consistently to be this many rats.” Keegan jerked her head “Not our case but perhaps…related?”  
            Dean shrugged, kicking out at a rat that had ventured too near his foot, sniffing a little too hopefully. And the fucker dodged and  _hissed_  at him. “Let’s keep moving, but keep it tight. I wanna scout this bitch out before we end up in any more shit.”  
            They made it to the far end of the alley. “What the fuck happened here?” Alec whispered, looking slightly taken aback. Dean was wholly with him; there were cars everywhere, some crashed, some seemingly in blockades… news vans, civilian vehicles, cop cars…and there were bullet holes in _everything_ , from the windows to doors, to streetlamps and cars. Most disturbing ( _as if the copious amounts of blood smeared everywhere wasn’t enough_ ), there wasn’t a body to be found. Then again, with those rats back there, there might be a reason for that.  
            “Dean…I think we may be in over our heads.” Sam said, staring out, gun lowering.   
            Dean was just about to agree with him when he saw her, stumbling out of a doorway in the building forming one wall of the alley with the sunlight catching her pale blonde hair and skin that was nearly white with fear. And she was wounded. “Hey!” She didn’t respond at first, just froze. Dean gentled his tone, sighing a bit at Alec, Sam and Keegan’s raised guns. “Hey, Hun, you need help?”  
            “Dean, she doesn’t smell right.” Sam hissed, going pale.  
            “Guys, I think we’re ok.” Dean hissed back, keeping his eyes on the woman. She was finally turning, making this horrible gasping wheeze that made Dean suspect broken ribs.  
            “Please tell me I’m not seeing what I think I’m seeing.” Keegan said in a voice very unlike her own. The woman was missing half of her face. Her remaining eye was bloody and discolored. Her teeth were red, her gums black.  
            “It can’t be…it has to be a spirit.” Sam said, stepping back anyway.   
            Dean figured the best way to figure out was just to shoot the damned thing. He was shocked as hell when the bullet made a twunk with impact into her sternum, and she staggered back, dark, jelly like blood oozing from the wound. She just looked up at him. And snarled. “Corporeal.” Dean reloaded his gun, eyes still on the woman, who was now staggering towards them. “Sammy? I thought you couldn’t resurrect a body that wasn’t mostly whole, and half of her face…”  
            Sam made a face. “I think it was more of a preference for some of the rituals.”  
            Alec’s face lit up. “Wait. You’re not telling me I actually found-”  
            Dean held up a hand, ignoring Alec. “But, dude, if someone rose that many…it would be no wonder they got out of control.”  
            This time, both Keegan and Sam shook their heads. “Still doesn’t feel right.”  
            “But it’s the best we got.” Sam finished, looking grim. “And there’s no fucking  _way_  I am nailing all these fuckers to their grave beds.”  
            “Then maybe we should bail.” Dean fired another shot at the dead girl, sending her staggering back a few steps. “Though, these don’t quite seem as superior as Angela.”  
            “It’s possible it’s because  _we’re_  superior now.” Sam mused.  
            Alec, however, was gaping at them, looking shocked. “Guys!” He was  _whining_.  
            Dean really hated it when Alec whined. “Dude, good case, seriously. But this might be a bit big-”  
            “ _I can sense her_.” Alec snapped, lip curling.  
            It took a moment for the statement to actually sink in, and then Dean just didn’t  _want_  to believe it. “That’s…weird.”  
            Alec’s eyes were back on the woman, who had staggered to her feet again. “You told me Angela was complex…human except for a rage that was deadly. That’s still emotionally complex.  _She_  only feels one thing.”  
            It was Keegan who took the bait, “What?”  
            Alec didn’t keep them waiting. “Hunger,” he said with a shudder.  “Primal, all-consuming hunger.”  
            Well  _that_  changed things. A rugaru. However, apparently Sam knew exactly what he was thinking, because he was shaking his head ( _frustratingly not in agreement_ ), and saying, “Can’t be, Dean. They’re territorial. And  _one_  just  _can’t_  take out an entire city.”   
            Dean was ever so slightly cheered as he caught Sam flinch at the suddenness of his gun’s rapport, as he chose  _that-precise-moment_  to give the bitch a warning shot. However, there was no smack of her body hitting the sidewalk. Dean glanced back, and _really_  wished he wasn’t so easily distracted. The bitch had managed to get herself a buddy, who was literally crawling behind her. There was noise coming from behind them now, too. All around them, staggering in, first just a few, but judging by the ever-growing noise, more were inevitably coming. One glance back down the alley proved that there were at least three crowding the farthest end.  
            Dean counted twenty easily. That put the body count  _way_  above the victims Alec had found…which pretty much killed his theory that they were all resurrected by necromancy.  
            “Guys…We’re cut off from the car.” Keegan said, her voice tinged with the barest hint of stress. Sam’s eyes had already gone black, and he was trembling slightly with a mix of anticipation and fear. Alec slipped into his Manticore Soldier face, calm, eyes hard, calculating…  
            Dean, however, was already scanning the buildings for possible escape routes; based on the speed the Dead Bitch was coming for them, there was a  _very_  good chance they could out-run them, providing they weren’t running into a nest of whatever these things were. He caught sight of a fire truck, the ladder forming a bridge from the middle of the street to the rooftops (and by passing a good twelve of the things too), and was just about to inform them when he caught sight of one of the things. It was wearing a Raccoon City Police uniform. He telescoped his vision in. The name on the badge matched one on a police car barely ten feet from them. The guy was missing an arm, and looked like he had been through a blender; all flayed skin. And he was staggering towards them.    “Eyes on me, follow!” And Dean booked it towards the fire truck. He knew he was too fast for them, but still, he got within a foot of some of the fuckers ( _the smell, damn that fucking **wrong**  smell_), and their reaction time was a little worrisome. Way too slow. Even an Ordinary would have been more cognizant and flinched.  
            The ladder itself was not supported at all (which was going to be a small issue), but Keegan seemed to catch on to what he was planning, and grabbed Sam (the slowest of the three when it came to their blurring speed) and vanished, reappearing directly in the line of sight that Dean had followed for the ladder. He glanced behind him; their movement had attracted  _more_  of them, and they were moving quicker, in almost a frenzy.  
            “Alec, get your ass up that ladder  _now_.” Alec paused, obviously about to protest when Dean grabbed him by his barcode, eliciting a yelp of pain as his fingers dug into the soft flesh of the nape of Alec’s neck. “I said  _now_.” And he threw Alec in the general direction of the ladder, turning back to fire a few shots at the things leading the pack. They fell, but the ones behind them just crawled over. He didn’t stay to watch; he booked it up the ladder after Alec.  Half way across the ladder started to groan. Dean gave Alec a hard look, and the younger Winchester gave a slight eye roll before the muscles in his legs coiled, and he sprung up and out towards the roof, clearing the edge and landing on his feet.  However, his leap had forced the ladder in the opposite direction, and Dean was now clinging to it as it groaned and swayed. Below him,  _they_  were there, making these moaning noises, arms raised, mouths open, hungry.  
            He was gonna have fucking nightmares for a  _week_. Then he felt the metal drop an inch. “Shit.”  
            Suddenly, the wind was knocked out of him, and he felt himself get shoved into the ladder harder, heard the metal start to give way at added weight. He was suddenly on the rooftop, staring at Sam’s shoes with someone sitting on him. “Never. Do. That. Again.” Keegan hissed at him before standing up, or, more accurately, trying to. She made it to a crouch before her legs started to give out. Alec was there immediately, catching her and saving her (and Dean) from more pain.  
            “What’s wrong?” Sam asked, looking between Alec and Keegan, but reaching a hand out to help Dean up.  
            “I’m fine, thank you.” Dean muttered sarcastically. He was worried about Keegan too, but, to be frank, the whole silent communication thing that her and Alec had developed was making him a tad jealous.  
            “She’s ok.” Alec announced after a moment, finally breaking his gaze with Keegan.  
            “That’s great,” Dean snapped, “Why wasn’t she two seconds ago?”   
            Keegan didn’t meet his gaze. “I have a limit to how soon after I teleport I can do it again. Its seconds, not usually that big of a deal…” She sighed. “I may have freaked a little bit at having to ‘port onto that ladder…and went faster than I should have to make sure I got us both out of there.”  
            Sometimes, Dean really wanted to have a chick flick moment. Today would be a prime example. Horrible timing with the corpses and people who should be  _dead_  walking the streets. He settled for grabbing her into a one armed hug, before heading towards the edge of the roof top.  Below them, the entire  _fucking street_  was full of shambling, stumbling bodies in various degrees of degeneration. The falling of the fire truck ladder had done nothing but pin a few of the groaning creatures. Dean was certainly not going to go help the bastards. “Alec,” he said, as soon as the others joined him at the ledge, “You sure can pick a hunt.” He didn’t need to look at Alec to know his clone was scowling at him. “I’d officially say we’re cut off from the car.”   
            “Sometimes, I think we should start carrying rope in our backpacks. Worked for Samwise.” Sam muttered, eyeing the distance to the next roof with some trepidation. “I don’t think even Alec could make it.”  
            Keegan frowned at the distance, crossing her arms. “You know, I could always ‘port-”  
            “No.” Dean glanced over at her, expression mild. “We don’t know what’s going on here, and if those things are attracted to movement, who knows their reaction to magic.” He knew he had a valid point, especially when she nodded, accepting his logic rather than fighting with him like she usually would.  
            “We can’t just sit on the roof and wait to see if they mosey on outta here.” Alec said, sounding annoyed. “I mean, first of all, we don’t have any food, and I’m hungry. Second, I highly doubt we’re going to end up solving this bitch sitting on our asses.”  
            “He has a point.” Sam agreed.  
            Dean really hated how smug Alec got with Sam’s approval. But, yes, Alec did have  _two_ valid points. “True. We’re cut off from the car…but I know if we plan this right, we can make it back to there…preferably along with taking down whoever summoned these fuckers.” He knew they agreed with him (none of them really had any other choice), but it was nerve-wracking. His pack, his  _family_  was depending on him to get them out of this alive. And while he’d never admit it to any of them, he didn’t think the odds were too good.  


***

  
  
            “…I don’t know why I continue to try to do this whole ‘Hunter’ thing. I mean, look at my track record here. First hunt,  _I_  get kidnapped by the homicidal ghost and fucking _tortured_  by the fuck, and my first scouted hunt ends up with people who may or may not be dead, but we’re pretty sure they are because their blood looks like cherry syrup. Chunky cherry syrup. Which oddly reminds me I’m hungry, but in no way for cherry syrup. Why couldn’t this have been some nifty monster…or a dragon? A dragon would have been  _so_  much more fun than these smelly freaks.” Alec paused in his litany to take out the leg of the nearest ambling body, causing it to fall back into the office it had been trying to leave. “Will you stay the fuck down, please? God, the  _nerve_  of some people.”  
            “Keegan, please tell me you found his off switch.” Dean hissed. “Because Pretty Boy still doesn’t know when to  _shut the fuck up_.” Alec just gave him a ‘who me?’ look and continued forward, taking point down the hall of the office building whose roof they had taken refuge on.  
            Dean held his position in the hall way, gun trained on the  _really_  dedicated office worker as Sam and then Keegan passed him. “He doesn’t have one. Unless you count the five minutes after he-”   
            Dean reached out to swat at her, and she ducked away, grinning. “There’s a phrase I would like to introduce you to, Keegan, it’s called ‘Over-sharing’. The whole you and Alec and the mate thing? Under that heading. Avoid it.” She stuck her tongue out, and Sam gave him a reproachful look but seriously, this was not the time for joking around. A sudden thought hit him the moment Alec got to the end of the hall; She was trying to get his mind off the current situation. Keegan was  _scared_.  
            Alec had found the door to the stairwell, and was motioning them forward. They took up points, covering the door and themselves as Sam pulled open the door, and Alec stepped into the window it created, gun drawn. After a moment, he gave the all clear, and they all filed in, Dean making sure he was last, and locking the stairwell door behind them. Best not to test how intelligent these things were. It was echoing in the stairwell, but there were none of the loud groans that seemed to accompany the creatures, only a muffled crying, as if someone was hiding and hurt, and trying desperately not to be heard.  
            He didn’t need to ask if the others heard it too, Keegan was already trying to track down the direction of the sound, and Sam had moved towards the stairs leading down. Alec walked to the railing and peered over the edge. Dean really wanted to smack him.  
            “Hey, hey, its ok, it’s ok, we’re not those things. We’re here to help.” Apparently, Alec’s way had produced the results, as Dean heard a startled gasp, and the sound of a woman trying to stand. He walked over to the rail, peering down. They were only three stories up, and she could see them from her spot on the ground floor. And she  _was_ wounded. The smell of fresh blood (and more of that strange sick-smell) was strong. 

            She either believed Alec, or she was too injured to move, because she only managed to crawl a couple feet towards the cave the stairs made against the wall by the time they made it down. The woman was a survivor; she actually looked  _at_  them, and (in a shaky voice), said, “Stay back!”  
            Dean watched as Alec raised his hands, giving her a nod, before backing off a little. “You’re ok, we’re here to get you out of here.”  
            She gave a miserable little laugh, and tugged her leg (Dean thought it was broken), closer to herself. “You’re just gonna die too.” She coughed, and Dean was alarmed to see red bubble at the corner of her mouth. He started towards her, but stopped at the sound of a safety being clicked off. She was armed. “Once you’re bitten, it’s all over.”  
            “What do you mean?” Alec asked, kneeling. She coughed again, and Dean tried very hard not to wince.  
            “Those things…” She waved her hand, “The first ones escaped from  _here_. Once they started infecting others…” She coughed once, and then continued coughing, her body jerking in response to the heaves. Alec looked like he wanted to move towards her, but she still held the gun aimed  _vaguely_  at Dean, and one could understand his reluctance. And as quickly as she started coughing, she just…stopped. Everything.  
            “Miss?” Alec took a hesitant step forward. “Miss?” Her entire body had gone slack. He dropped to his knees, and reached for her pulse. She didn’t move to stop him. She didn’t move at all. “She’s dead.”  
            “And I don’t think we know exactly what we’re dealing with…” Sam said, and Dean could just  _tell_  his geek brother was thinking up a storm.  
            Alec, however, was still crouching by the woman, peering at her. “If I didn’t know better…I’d almost say she died of Ebola.”  
            Dean froze. “What?” He didn’t like how high his voice sounded.  
            Alec looked over at him, frowning. “It’s not like we can catch it, Dean. Manticore made us immune. It’s just…I’ve seen people die of it—not pretty, mind you—and this is close…but not quite. Not quite right smell, either.”  
            “Where the  _fuck_  did you see people die of  _Ebola_?” Dean asked, jaw gaping.  
            Alec looked vaguely uncomfortable. “Our unit was sent out into the Congo in ’17. It was no big deal.” He added on, hastily.  
            There were times when Dean felt inferior to his clone. He hated them…but here was another. That is, until he realized that their survivor (who had just  _died_ ), was moving. “Alec…” Alec rolled his eyes, still crouched way too close. Dean stepped forward, “Alec…she’s…one of  _them_.”  
            “What?” And Alec glanced back just in time to see the woman lunge at him. Dean was horrified when Alec fell backwards, hands fighting to keep her away from his flesh, and she was  _really_  trying to bite him. Keegan was already moving, firing a shot into the woman’s leg, but she ignored it, intent on eating Alec’s face. Literally. Sam closed his eyes, but Dean knew by the time he got the concentration up Alec would be Cadaver Chow, and he didn’t have a clear shot—  
            “Just put the bitch down! Fuck warning shots! Get her in the head!” Alec snarled, managing to get a leg up and between the woman and himself, throwing her over his head.   
            Dean spun, and took a bead on her approximate height. As she drew up ( _her broken leg doesn’t seem to be bothering her too much now_ ), she snarled at him and lunged. He put a bullet between her eyes. The bitch went down, and she didn’t get back up. Sam was already looking like he was going to verbally tear down Alec (out of guilt, Dean knew, for not being able to rip the thing off of him) but Alec, for some reason, was smiling.  
            “What the fuck are you on?” Keegan blurted, eyeing her mate with an expression to match.  
            Alec made a great show of looking from them each in turn, to the corpse on the floor (still not moving, longest yet), and then back. “We can kill them.”  
            Dean nodded, mirroring the grin. “And she said they came from here…there’s a  _big_  lead.”  


***

  
  
            Dean didn’t have them split up; their lives were worse than every sci-fi and horror movie he had ever seen, and in every one of  _those_ , the minute someone split off from the pack, they were getting sent home in a body-bag, if they were lucky. Several if they weren’t. Besides, Alec and Keegan were used to operating as a unit in Manticore, and in all the years that had passed between Sam and Dean, it wasn’t very likely they’d be going their separate ways again. He’d never admit it, but he needed Sam at his back just like he needed air to breathe. That, or Alec’s over dramatic-ness was rubbing off on him. Which was why they had only covered a small part of the offices and found nothing but a bunch of regular office paper work for a company called Umbrella, which seemed to have its hand in everything from consumer products to pharmaceuticals. However, most of the numbers didn’t add up.  
            “Sam…tell me, how do you spend over ten million on research and development for a child’s toy? And then make back  _triple_  when as far as I can tell, the toy never actually hit markets?” Dean asked, handing over one memo.   
            “Or why this place mentions seven floors when the floor plan only shows three.” Keegan suddenly stood up, head turning towards the hall way. “Guys…we didn’t check the elevators. There could be more floors below, like at Manticore.”  
            Dean cursed under his breath, she was right. They had ignored the elevators simply because, in an emergency, one didn’t use them. “You two find anything useful?”  
            “Nothing.” Alec said, throwing down a file with a look of disgust.  
            Sam took his time answering. “Just a bunch of shoddy numbers…whatever was generating Umbrella’s profits; it wasn’t these ‘consumer products’.” Sam looked up at Dean. “I’m starting to think this isn’t our type of case.”  
            Dean shrugged. “Well, we’re stuck in the middle of it, so we make the best of it. Let’s head down stairs.”   It took them barely a minute to gather up the few documents Sam had thought important, and move to the elevators. Sam took the time to open up the panel once inside, and sure enough, if one had a key card, four more floors were suddenly available. Granted, Sam’s keycard was a credit card and a magnet (Dean always wondered why the hell he still  _had_  credit cards when the entire system was demolished in 2010) but it worked. The slow, quiet ride down was awkward and tense, Alec the only one managing to stand completely still. The elevator slowed at sublevel one, and Dean felt his gut clench in nerves.  _Something_  was outside that door.  
            “Got a feeling, bro?” Sam asked, obviously thinking the same thing.   
            The disturbing part was the answer was ‘yes’. “Something tells me that this is about to get bad.” Dean said, licking his lips nervously.  
            As elevator doors dinged and started to slide open, Dean heard Alec yell ‘Down’ before Sam was yanking him to the floor, and there was a burst of gun fire above their heads. Dean glanced to his left just in time to see a rotten face drop not inches from his own, stinking breath escaping in its death, a bullet hole neatly between its eyes. Only then he was able to take in the groaning, and moaning, and the sound of people trampling themselves to get to the elevator. Glancing up, Alec and Keegan had their pistols out, and were alternating fire, four guns going, each shot taking down one of the freaks. Their faces were blank, expressionless; Manticore. Barely a minute passed before Sam was yanking him back up, drawing his own gun as both Alec and Keegan reloaded, and took up the cause. Dean was a fraction of a second behind him. Another thirty seconds, and they had a path clear enough to get through.  
            “Move it, move now!” Dean wasn’t sure when Alec had decided he was in charge, but this wasn’t the time to argue, especially when his pause to asses  _that_  had sent a bullet whizzing by his ear, and he spun to see one of those things ( _it probably used to be a rather pretty lab tech_ ), head snap back, bullet lodged in its brain. “I said, move!”  
            “Damnit, Pretty Boy, I’m moving!”  
            It was a haze of sterilized halls, walking corpses and gun flashes, and then Sam was yanking him into an office, Keegan slamming into his back at his unexpected stop. Alec was slamming into her a moment later, but  _he_  angled the hit to knock both of them into the room, so that Sam could slam the door.  
            “Ok, I don’t think coming down here was the best idea we’ve ever had.” Sam announced, leaning against the door as those things threw themselves against it.  
            Dean ignored him, instead choosing to look around the office they had stumbled into. It was obviously a researcher’s, and someone high up due to the sheer  _size_  of the damn place, but best of all, it was pristine. It looked like no one had been in here since whatever had happened. He heard Alec and Keegan talking to themselves, probably making sure each other was alright, and so, he felt reasonably safe exploring. The computer (which looked like it had survived the Pulse), was in standby mode. Dean may not be as computer savvy as Sam, or a trained hacker like Alec or Keegan, but a computer with open access, now that was something he could do no problem. Obviously, the company hadn’t thought anyone could access it that wasn’t supposed to which was their own mistake.  
            Five files later, he knew this wasn’t the only mistake they made. “Holy shit. Guys, I know why this place was ground zero…” Almost instantaneously, he was being crowded by three other bodies, and no longer could see the screen. “Damnit, guys! I was reading that!”  
            “Genetic experimentation? In  _viral_  weaponry?” Sam was looking pale, but Alec was looking  _green_.  
            In a moment, he had shoved everyone else out of the way and was actually  _blurring_  over the keyboard, the computer a few seconds behind him. All the while, he was muttering “No…no…no” continuously. Dean only got passing glimpses at the screen as Alec became more and more agitated, before finally stepping back, revealing all of the screen. There was the Umbrella logo on one side of the page, and  _the Manticore logo on the other_. The worst part was the words **X5R-494**  and  **Test Subject** , part of a list along with the designations of several others.   
            “Oh god, Alec…” Keegan whispered. She looked between the page and him, reaching out, but Alec pulled away, giving a sardonic laugh.  
            “I fucking  _knew_  I smelt this before.” Alec stared moodily out at the artificial ‘city’ they had created for the underground windows. “Always fucking  _me_.”  
            Sam didn’t tear his eyes from the page, his mouth moving slightly as he read the words. “Wait, wait, guys!” Dean turned back to Sam eyes questioning. “It says we’re Immune. X5s are immune to whatever virus this is.”  
            “Guess they figured this out after they used us as fucking _lab rats_!” Alec snarled. “You know, I never complained about having my bones broken, being subjected to all my allergies, having every reaction tested…but I don’t even fucking _remember_ this.”  
            “I personally think we got a bigger problem.” Dean said, now that he had the computer back. “What does it mean, the virus is protean?”  
            “It means it changes based on its environment…oh fuck.” Keegan made a weak noise. “They probably lost containment; it became airborne, infected all these people and then they started infecting people…”  
            Dean’s eyes widened comically. “It’s still in the air?”  
            “No. It couldn’t have survived that long.” Keegan looked back at Dean. “We’re going to need back up. To contain this…”  
            “We call anyone and they’re just going to sanitize the facility, Raccoon City along with it.” Alec had slipped back on the Manticore mask, and was breathing slowly, through his mouth. “We need to get out, and then call for help.”  
            “We should call Max. See if she can talk to Lydecker about pulling some strings-” Keegan actually leapt backwards at Alec’s snarl.  
            “He signed the paper work. He  _knows_.”  
            “Whoa, whoa, whoa, there. Easy, boy.” Dean said, standing slowly. “Let’s just worry about getting the fuck-” There was a roar from below them that shook the glass walls of the interior of the office.  
            “Twenty bucks says that’s not good.” Sam muttered. A moment later, the sound came again, but much closer.  
            “I think we should move.” Dean said, pulling his gun.  
            “Um, to where? We’re in an office. There are undead outside here, and whatever the fuck that is down there, and not like this place has a rear exit.” Sam pointed out, peering towards the back of the office.  
            “How are we on ammo?” Dean reached into his own pocket, counting the clips. “I’ve got four for my 1911, and a couple for a shotgun…which we  _don’t_  have.”  
            “Three clips here.” Sam said.  
            “Eight for the glock.” Keegan said, checking her small back pack.   
            Alec patted down his fatigues. “Ditto.”  
            “And we have no idea how many are out there.” Dean kicked the edge of the desk. “Damnit.” The roar came again. “But…let’s take our chances, I don’t wanna know what—Alec, what the fuck are you doing?”  
            Alec glared at him from back by the computer. “Backing up the hard drive. If they sanitize it, you wanna bet everything they did will get covered up? I’m  _sick_  of being covered up.” Dean nodded; it was a fair point.  After Alec was done, he pocketed the disk, and joined the others by the door way, locking the clips in both of his guns. Dean nodded once at Sam, and then it was a repeat performance of getting  _into_  the fucking office, only this time it was running for the elevator.  
            Sam just cleared the door when Dean caught a glimpse of something crawling along the ceiling, moving  _impossibly_  fast, tongue shooting out—And the doors slid shut.  
            “Holy fucking shit! What the fuck was  _that_?” Keegan yelped. Dean was glad he wasn’t the only one who saw it, but it certainly didn’t make him feel better.  
            “I have no fucking clue. Alec?” Alec just shook his head. “Sam?”  
            “Didn’t see it.” Sam panted. “Too busy trying to not get bit.”  
            “Exactly what part of ‘immune’ did you not understand?” Alec asked, voice dripping with sarcasm.  
            Sam shot him a bitch-face. “I’d still rather not get bit, smartass.”  
            Alec opened his mouth to respond, but the elevator suddenly rocked, and they were all thrown to the floor. Metal screamed, and groaned in protest, and the ceiling buckled and bent; something landed on the roof of the lift.  
            “Oh, this is  _not_  happening…” Dean watched with something akin to terror as claws ( _fucking_ **claws** ), ripped through the metal of the industrial elevator. He didn’t blame Keegan for the slight scream she let slip when the claws tore through a second time, as if the metal was nothing more yielding than paper.  
            “We need to get the doors open!” Sam said, staying low, and crawling towards the front. He got his fingers in between the crease, but they were still moving. “Someone hit the emergency stop!”  
            Alec launched himself from his stomach just long enough to do that, but the sudden movement  _somehow_  caught the thing’s attention. Renewed clawing ensued, and Alec was hit with falling shrapnel.  
            Sam used his superior strength and wrenched the doors open, but the gap… “Damnit! We’re not completely up!”   
            Dean peered past Sam, gauging the two foot gap. “We can squeeze through. Keegan first.” Dean then pulled himself into a corner, keeping himself low but bringing his gun to aim at the red claws coming through the ceiling. Keegan pulled herself through easily, Alec right behind her, and he helped pull Sam through.   
            Dean watched as the ceiling was peeling back. It had no eyes. Its brain was directly exposed…and it just didn’t have any  _skin_. Dean just wasn’t sure what the  _Hell_  he was looking at…because he had  _seen_  things in Hell, and this was  _worse_. And then it opened its mouth.  
            Dean found himself watching in some kind of slow motion as a tongue…impossibly long, unfurled towards him, reaching. He registered someone grabbing his jacket just as the tongue reached his arm, and quite suddenly, he was yanked out of the thing’s reach, and slammed into the elevator doors. “Fuck!”  
            “Get out here!” Dean glanced up at the tongue, only to see it pull back, and the creature pull itself into the elevator car. Dean pushed his legs out, keeping his gun trained on the nasty thing before he felt presumably Sam and Alec yank him through, his shoulders catching just barely, and then he used his agility to pull himself from cracking his head on the ground, crushing a finger under his gun, but landing on his hands. Not two seconds later, that thing’s face snarled out at them, and Dean vaulted himself to his feet. Alec let out a snarl that was more animal than human, and if he had fur, Dean just  _knew_  it would be standing on end. As it was, the short hairs on the back of Alec’s neck were standing up as he backed in front of Keegan, lowering his shoulders in a defensive posture. Dean knew his was too, he could feel the prickling sensation. The thing was fighting its way out of the elevator, but its larger mass was proving difficult.   
            Dean didn’t have a comeback, or a joke, or anything. Especially not when the thing got tired of fighting and waiting to eat them, and sent that tongue flying towards them. Dean knew the distance between himself and the elevator was ten feet three inches exactly, and the tongue was wagging at him easily less than six inches away. It pulled back, again, then shot out, probing.  _It couldn’t see them_.  
            “Guys!” And almost instantly, the tongue was back, eerily on target. He signaled for silence, while Sam gave the universal ‘well duh’ gesture. Apparently its hearing was _incredible_.   
            With them falling silent (and it still not wrapping that slimy looking thing around any of them), it pulled back the tongue (which still hung out of its mouth by at least three feet) and clawed at the doors and walls, trying to make the hole big enough to get out of. Dean  _really_  didn’t want that thing getting out. He gestured for the others to follow his instructions (twice for Alec, who seemed more focused on the Licker, as Dean now thought of it) and then repeated it just to make sure:  
            :: _On three, open fire and do not stop till it is DEAD_ ::  
            Predictably, Sam had an objection. It was really amazing to Dean how Sam managed to argue while they couldn’t  _talk_ , but there he was, signing, :: _We don’t have unlimited ammo. And we still need to get out._ ::  
            Dean effectively ended the argument when he turned and opened fire on the Licker. Immediately, it lashed out with its tongue; the bullets cut right through the appendage and it screamed in pain. Half caught in the elevator shaft, getting shot near point blank by a trained marksman, the licker didn’t last nearly as long as Dean had thought. It was almost disappointing. Its dying keel was a series of clicking noises, which Dean found very odd.  
            Turning back to the others, he holstered his gun in the waistband of his pants. “Thanks ever so much for the help, guys.”   
            “You totally had it covered!” Keegan yelped, indignantly. “Besides, Alec kept getting over protective and blocked every. Freaking. Shot.” The last three words were punctuated with slaps to the shoulder that didn’t even phase the spooked X5. Dean was just about to comment when Sam elbowed him. He followed Sam’s gaze, drawing his gun again. There was a clicking noise, and the most bizarre sound of flesh and claws scraping against…that had to be  _ceiling tile_ …  
            Something leaped across the hallway, hissing. Alec spun, managing to get Keegan behind him again and had his teeth bared, gun drawn at some local that Dean couldn’t pinpoint. Obviously, Alec was tracking the emotions of whatever it was. A tongue shot out and ripped the gun from Alec’s hand, taking a good amount of skin with it. Alec let out a strangled yell, already going for his other gun, even as his body was trying to fall to its knees, reeling from the pain.  
            “It’s another Licker!” Dean called, grabbing to pull Keegan out of range as the tongue shot out again.  
            “A wh-” Sam cut himself off, realizing that  _now_  wasn’t the best time, and instead grabbed Alec’s other arm, helping him haul himself backwards. Dean kept his gun trained on where he had seen the tongue lash from- And then he was flat on the floor, gun going off and ricocheting a bullet into the ceiling as his feet were pulled out from under him. He tried to look over his shoulder.  _The other one wasn’t dead_.  
            “We are  _fucked_!” He had maintained his hold on his gun, and started firing the best he could back at the creature that had his feet. Three shots later, and the tongue went limp, spazming once before it fell still. He kicked it off, and spun; Alec was back on his feet, eyes searching the ceiling. Sam was too, but he was alternating between that and checking on Keegan, who had somehow been knocked-  
            The tongue came flying out again, hitting Sam in the shoulder and sending him flying into the far wall. Well, that explained Keegan. Alec had leveled with where the tongue was, but the creature already was  _moving_  and it nearly put them to shame.  He had an idea. Sam would kill him, but he might save his family. So, holstering his gun for the moment, he crouched down ( _there’s a flash of it!_ ), and he was off, using every ounce of his X5 speed and agility, bounding after the thing, which was now kind of like chasing down one of their many neighbors dogs when Dean or Sam accidentally let them loose while trying to play. Except, those dogs had never really minded being chased, and never turned around and shot a tongue at him. Dean surprised himself when he actually  _caught_  the damn thing, only to be yanked towards the licker as it pulled its tongue back.  
            But Dean  _wanted_  to be closer. Just as its teeth came into clear view he let go, using his continued momentum to crash into the thing, trying to avoid the damned claws, and got a hand on either side of its head.  _Snap_. The sound echoed loudly in the hall, and it had taken  _way_  too much force, but Dean was now trying to land on his feet as the (now-dead) licker’s claws lost their hold on the ceiling. Its corpse landed with a heavy thud behind him.  
            Alec, Keegan and Sam were staring at him like he had lost his mind. “And  _that’s_  why I’m the Alpha, bitch.”  


***

  
  
            After the licker ( _licker **s** , I took out  **two**  of those creepy bastards_), the rest of the creatures they faced seemed more… annoying rather than an actual threat. In particular, Sam had gotten a stalker, and Dean just  _loved_  that the dude managed to get infected and die while  _naked_ and choosing to keep coming after his brother, who seemed reluctant to look at the poor man. The best part was Sam now had  _two_  younger siblings, both of which seemed to find it just as amusing as Dean, and thus refused to shot him for Sam. And his little brother had actually  _wished_  for a kid brother once.  
            Things were going great till they got to the edge of the city.  
            Military check points had been set up, there were helicopters buzzing overhead; everything screamed big cover-up in progress. Worse, they had sighted the Winchesters on security feeds (because, for some strange reason  _those_  were still working), and Dean found himself wondering if they were going to have to fight an entire regiment to get out of here (which would be tough, and probably piss Max off to high hell that her wayward transgenics were getting bad press) or let them take them into custody. Dean chose the peaceful route; he had Sam and Keegan nagging him. Which was why, four hours later, they were  _still_  sitting in a white medical tent, being poked and prodded with various needles all to be sure that they had survived their sojourn in Raccoon City uninfected. After all, they had been in there nearly a full twenty four hours. After the city went critical,  _no one_  survived that long, unless they had been part of Umbrella’s secret Ops. Dean really,  _really_  wanted to point out that they were genetically engineered bioweapons themselves, and they could handle themselves. But, for the sake of Transgenic Nation, he kept silent. They’d find out as soon as they ran the tests anyway.  
            There were footsteps outside his door, and Dean didn’t even bother to glance up. Probably  _another_  blood test. “Well, you look a hell of a lot better than I would have thought.”   
            Dean snapped his head up, eyes wide. “Lydecker?”  
            The silver-haired man smiled, and walked into the room, leaning against the door. “I’d say how’s it been…but I think I know.”  
            “Alec thought it was one of ours.” Dean said, a little defensively.  
            Lydecker nodded, and looked back at Dean. “He told me. I just wanted to come in, make sure you got released, and make sure this mess gets cleaned up.” He looked away. “We sealed the Raccoon City facility in September. Umbrella assured us operations had been completely shut down.”  
            Dean smirked. “Yeah, well, now they are.” Lydecker nodded.  
            “Sir?” Dean and Don both looked up towards the door, where a scientist was looking between the two; Dean as if he was something the man was  _itching_  to take a closer look at, scientifically speaking, and Don because that’s who he was supposed to talk to. “You wanted to be notified when the test results came-”  
            Don took the folder from the scientist, and flipped through the pages. “Yep. Clear. Immune. See? I told you they were part of the test. Now let them go, you can’t keep them here since they were only on loan.” Dean smirked a little, Lydecker was one shrewd man.   
            The minute the man had passed out of hearing range; Dean leaned closer to Lydecker and whispered, “You lied? Tsk, Tsk, Donnie boy.”  
            “You’re my kids.” Don said, standing again. “And besides, your blood test  _does_  confirm your immune, you took out two Lickers and a large amount of Infected. Clearly, our science wins.” And he smiled. Dean was just happy to be out of that damned place.  
  
  
 **NEW JERSEY**  
 **TWO DAYS LATER**  
  
            “But, Dean, come on! This is nothing like Raccoon City!”   
            Dean just looked up at Alec, and shook his head. “No. I’m not trusting any more hunts from you, Pretty Boy.”   
            Alec looked absolutely flabbergasted. “But! Dude! Zombies!”  
            “Oh, he said the ‘Z’ word.” Sam called, not looking up from his newspaper.   
            Dean shook his head. “Damnit. We never say the ‘Z’ word, man. Ruins our image. Besides, they were ‘Infected’.” He used the quote-y fingers. “And you don’t get points for the awesomeness of the monster.  _Those_   went to the fact we nearly died the entire time we were there. And the fact it was a  _city full_  of undead. No.  Just, no.”  
            And thus, Dean figured the Jersey Devil could continue to haunt the Pine Barrens for all he cared. Alec had the worst luck when  _he_  picked the hunts.


End file.
